Transmission of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis is reality in Switzerland

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Niederer-Loher, Anita^; | Kahlert, Christian^; | Barben, Jürg | Deggim, Vanessa | Zellweger, Jean-Pierre

Affiliations: Infectious Diseases, Children's Hospital of Eastern Switzerland, St. Gallen, Switzerland | Pneumology, Children's Hospital of Eastern Switzerland, St. Gallen, Switzerland | Infectious Diseases, Kantonsspital, St. Gallen, Switzerland | Institute of Medical Microbiology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerla | Lungenliga Schweiz, Switzerland

Note: [] Correspondence: Anita Niederer-Loher, MD, Ostschweizer Kinderspital, 9006 St. Gallen, Switzerland. Tel.: +41 71 243 14 34; Fax: +41 71 243 73 90; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: We report the first documented patient-to-patient transmission of Multidrug resistant tuberculosis observed in Switzerland between two young, previously healthy patients from Tibet. They both lived in Switzerland for several years and did not originate from the same community. Resistance patterns and restriction fragment length polymorphism-analysis (RFLP-analysis) of both strains were identical.

Keywords: Tuberculosis, multidrug-resistance, transmission, contact-investigation

DOI: 10.3233/JPI-120370

Journal: Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 159-160, 2012